We all love Newsboy Jeremy Wells. His ‘Unauthorized History of NZ’ was the funniest thing ever made in this country, so he gets a hospital pass for pimping Meridian, especially when Meridian are our go to power company for sustainable energy, but his latest set of adverts playing to liberal guilt over child poverty and green electricity generation to encourage customers to switch to Meridian is a cheap trick too far.
Meridian want the extra customers to plump up their customer base in time to flog off to the tiny percentage of NZers with the tax cuts to buy them. We saw it with Mighty River Power, the final number of ‘Mum and Dad’ NZers who actually now own what was once 100% owned by all of us is 2.5%.
Jeremy Wells may be cute, but helping the plutocratic oligarchy gain more economic dominance is as charming as a bus crash into a kindergarten.
Giving Rio Tinto $30m in corporate welfare to ensure Meridian’s sale could go ahead is an insult to every beneficiary cut and dumped in the gutter by this Government. Isn’t it fascinating that when it comes to welfare, Key and his chums can’t do anything other than cut back for solo parents, the poor and the sick, but when it comes to corporate welfare, Key can’t write cheques big enough or change labour laws fast enough.
The hypocritical double standards to ensure the wealthy can buy our assets runs against every egalitarian principle this country once had.
We have been played like chumps by a vacant aspiration multi-millionaire who is laughing all the way to the bank.
Everyone needs an earner, butt, butt, Wells is pushing it as did kiwi writer Gordon Mclaughlin (“The Passionless People”) in the 80s when he did Telecom’s bidding but has since attempted to recant.
It is always a bummer to see people you previously respected join the dark side of corporate spinning as many of the journos in Aotearoa seem to have.
As did Wallace Chapman with Cadbury and TVNZ’s The Extra Mile. It’s disappointing, I suppose everyone has their price.
Here’s a list of the famous NZers I used to respect but whose pimping I now find painful to watch or listen to (cashing in on respect).
– Jeremy Wells
– Angela Bloomfield (hissss!)
– Michael Jones
– Stacey Jones
– Colin Meads
– Gary McCormick
– Nathan Rarere (Holden cars).
They all double-dip on our respect until the barrel is empty.
I forgot to add McSarah McUlmer to the previous list.
For balance, here are some famous NZs who haven’t sold out:
– Marcus Lush
– Josh Kronfeld
– Raybon Kan
– Mike Havoc
I just can’t associate those guys with product packaging
to dive mccormick his due..(and yes..his coffin-ads are tiresome/dire..)
..there are few arguing more potently than mccormick against the evils/inequities nz is rife with..
..in railing against the current paradigm..
..and calling bullshit! on the obfuscations presented as ‘solutions’..
..he was on the panel on nat-rad this wk..
..and he repeatedly pointed out/argued that poverty is the cause of most of those ‘evils/inequities’..
..and that any so-called solution not addressing that basic fact..is utter bullshit..
..kinda a refreshing change from the usual rightwing/current-paradigm apologies offered by panel-configurations..
..and sorry to dent yr havo ‘product’-assumptions..but he voices his share of ads..has a voice for hire..
..and in my experience has always been very upfront about the freebies etc..telling listeners all about them..etc.
..and an obscure newsboy-fact..(and yes..those poverty-ads are a new benchmark in ugh!..)
..i’m pretty sure he was the first to say ‘fuck’ on breakfast radio..
..on bfm..
..i was there doing the news bulletins..and i hafta confess to being a bit shocked on the day/in the moment..
..(wondering at possible reprecussions..)
..which in hindsight – was kinda uptight of me..
..and re havo..?
..he has one of the quickest minds i have encountered..
..he is a very talented man..
..as is wells..
..phillip ure..
Forgot to mention Stephen “Fujitsu” Fleming in there. I wonder if any future All White will stoop? All Blacks and Silver Ferns have it mostly sewn up.
Jeremy Wells? He’s always given me the creeps.
As Bradbury notes, Wells did grow up to be a funny chap, but he should never be allowed to forget those late ’90s candyraver outfits he used to wear in his early days as Havoc’s sidekick.
According to Nicki Minaj (on Graeme Norton) we all “beez in the trap” – that’s rap talk for we all be pimping for someone
wasn’t he already doing McDonalds commercials by then? also, some people think he wrote unauthorised history of nz but i think he had little/no input and does not receive a credit
Rio Tinto post $4.2b six month profit
Rio Tinto’s half year results have come in close to market expectations, with an underlying profit of US$4.2 billion (NZ$5.27 billion).
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/9020099/Rio-Tinto-post-4-2b-six-month-profit
August 8 2013
That’s NZ $5.27 with a “B”, an extra three zeros to the miserly NZ$30 million we’re giving them, not to mention the undisclosed new (cheap?) electricity rates Meridian have granted them.
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